Christina Judith Perri (born August 19, 1986)[1] is an American singer and songwriter from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her debut single "Jar of Hearts" charted after it was featured on the Fox television show So You Think You Can Dance in 2010. The single went on to sell over 3 million copies in the United States and was a hit around the world. In the UK, it reached number three on the charts and spent over three months in the UK Top 40. A few months later, Perri released her first extended play, The Ocean Way Sessions.

She graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School in 2004.[6] She taught herself how to play guitar as a 16-year-old by watching a videotape of Shannon Hoon from the group Blind Melon performing on VH1.[7] She attended college as a communication major for a year,before dropping out to pursue a music career.

She frequently sang and acted in musical theatre as a child. Perri claims to have learned to play piano and guitar because she missed hearing music being played in the house when she moved away. According to Perri, whenever she played the guitar or piano, she would sing and "all of a sudden these songs would appear."[5]

Perri moved to Los Angeles on her 21st birthday. According to Perri, she felt terrified of being over 3000 miles away from her family, saying that she "cried [her] eyes out every day".[8]

Later that year she married and began to produce music videos for a living. She divorced 18 months later and moved in to a small apartment on her own to focus entirely on working on music. She moved back to Philadelphia by the end of 2009; it was during this time that she wrote "Jar of Hearts". She later moved back to Los Angeles, waitressing at the Melrose Cafe during the day and recording at night.[7][9]

Following the success of "Jar of Hearts", Perri signed a deal with Atlantic Records on July 21, 2010.[12] She recorded an EP titled The Ocean Way Sessions that was released on November 9, 2010.[13] The second single from Perri's debut album, "Arms", was released on March 15, 2011. She released her debut album, Lovestrong, on May 10, 2011. It debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200, with first-week sales of 58,000 copies.[14] In the United Kingdom, Lovestrong was the thirteenth highest selling debut album of 2011.[15]

In July 2011, Perri embarked on her first world tour, the Lovestrong Tour, which lasted for almost exactly a year and consisted of 71 dates. Perri released her single "A Thousand Years", which appeared on the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, on October 18, 2011. The song debuted at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number 31, but has been certified 4× platinum with over 4 million sales in the US alone since.[16] The song is Perri's most successful single to date. The album's third and final single, "Distance", was released on March 20, 2012.

On August 1, 2012, she announced via Facebook that A Very Merry Perri Christmas EP would be released on October 16, 2012. The album consisted of one original song, "Something About December", which served as the lead single, as well as four covers.[18] Perri re-recorded "A Thousand Years" for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 soundtrack with guest vocals from Steve Kazee, titled "A Thousand Years, Pt. 2". On May 14, 2013, she received the BMI award for her song "A Thousand Years" at the 61st annual BMI Pop Awards held in Beverly Hills, California.[19]

In 2013, Perri began regularly tweeting and posting pictures on Instagram regarding her second studio album's progress using the hashtag "#albumtwo". In February, Perri partnered with the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms on a three-stop tour to raise money for the charity and debuted a brand new song from her second studio album, titled "I Believe", at the shows.[20] On June 21, Perri tweeted announcing that the second album was coming together.[21]

On November 11, 2013, Perri announced that her first single from her new album is called "Human". The song was released on November 18, 2013 on iTunes. Perri performed the song on The Queen Latifah Show the same day.[22] On November 28, 2013, Perri revealed that her second studio album would be titled Head or Heart and it was released on April 1, 2014. On May 29, it was announced that she would open Demi Lovato's new North American World Tour's dates.[23] Perri later announced that her second concert tour would be titled the Head or Heart Tour, which began in April 2014.[24]

On June 9, she released the second single from her second album, "Burning Gold". with the video released on August 1. On December 19, 2014, Perri performed in the annual "Christmas in Washington" holiday concert.[25]

On March 2, 2016, she announced on Instagram that she was 4 years sober. In May 2016, Perri announced via her Instagram that she was currently working on her third album.